IMOLA, 7th September, 2026 (WAM) — The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) has concluded Europe’s first fully autonomous multi-car race, held at Italy’s Imola Circuit as part of the ACI Racing Weekend.
The UAE’s Kinetiz team won the league’s inaugural international race, contested over 12 laps on one of the world’s most technically demanding motorsport circuits.
A2RL is organised by ASPIRE, the grand challenges arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, bringing together leading players in Abu Dhabi’s autonomous mobility ecosystem under the strategic oversight of the Smart and Autonomous Systems Council.
The league has evolved from a public testing platform for artificial intelligence under extreme racing conditions into a competitive autonomous racing championship.
The Imola race marked A2RL’s international debut following two seasons at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, reinforcing its ambition to become the world’s first international championship for fully autonomous racing cars.
Five autonomous cars competed, with the UAE’s Kinetiz taking victory ahead of Germany’s Constructor Racing in second place, Italy’s PoliMOVE in third and Unimore in fourth. Germany’s TUM, champion in both 2024 and 2025, was classified fifth.
All teams used identical EAV-25 hardware, making software the decisive performance factor, from perception, planning and control to real-time decision-making.
TUM’s winning streak ended after its car developed a technical problem during the formation lap, forcing it back to the pits before the race began.
Pole-sitter and race leader Unimore recorded the fastest lap of one minute and 40 seconds before a technical failure brought its car to an abrupt halt.
PoliMOVE, which had followed within a second of the leader from the start and recorded the highest speed of 252.3 km/h, could not avoid Unimore’s suddenly slowing car and struck it from behind, bringing both teams’ races to an abrupt end.
Their retirement handed the lead to Kinetiz, which maintained its advantage to the chequered flag.
Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary-General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, said, “A2RL reflects Abu Dhabi’s approach to advanced technology, setting an ambitious challenge, bringing together the best minds and creating the conditions to accelerate progress. Imola put that approach to a real test, with five autonomous cars facing changing conditions and the pressures of direct competition.
“Kinetiz’s victory is a significant achievement for the UAE, while the broader importance lies in what the race demonstrated about improving reliability, resilience and real-time decision-making. These insights will help advance autonomous systems far beyond motorsport.”
Stephane Timpano, Chief Executive Officer of ASPIRE, said, “We congratulate the UAE’s Kinetiz team on this well-deserved victory. Imola raised the level of the challenge, pushing autonomous systems to compete side by side in an entirely different environment and generating valuable data that will accelerate the next phase of research and development. What we witnessed here gives us a new benchmark for assessing how these systems perform and adapt under pressure.”
With its elevation changes, narrow racing lines, limited run-off areas and difficult overtaking opportunities, Imola provided a rigorous test of autonomous systems’ ability to manage grip, traffic, positioning and overtaking under sustained pressure.
The race required the artificial intelligence systems to respond continuously to rivals’ movements, make real-time decisions about when to attack or defend, and adjust their planned trajectories as the race unfolded.
Omar Hanif Alqassim, Team Principle of Kinetiz, said, “Winning A2RL’s first international race is a moment of immense pride for everyone at Kinetiz, particularly as we represent the UAE on the international stage. The team worked extremely hard to achieve this, and seeing those efforts translate into victory makes the moment even more special.
“It was a fantastic race, exceptionally well organised by ASPIRE, which has built a strong platform to showcase the autonomous technologies being developed in the UAE. We are proud to bring this victory home and to help represent the UAE’s ambition and capabilities on the global stage.”
Before the race, teams prepared through an intensive period of physical testing lasting just nine days, in changing conditions that included rain and, at one stage, hail. A new wet-weather package enabled all five teams to take part in testing, completing a combined 38 laps.
To complement physical testing and give teams further opportunities to refine their software, A2RL’s Sim Sprint competition returned this season, using high-fidelity digital twins of Yas Marina Circuit, A2RL Autodrome, Suzuka and Imola to develop and validate algorithms.
Alessandro Tucci, Executive Director of the House of Grand Challenges at ASPIRE, said, “The performance demonstrated by the teams during the race is the result of a clear development strategy built on more than 5,000 hours of simulation testing and racing in 2025. Imola was a major step in A2RL’s evolution, and we are proud of what the teams and the wider A2RL ecosystem have achieved. Bringing that level of preparation to a circuit such as Imola enables us to keep raising the league’s competitive standard.”
A2RL will return to Yas Marina Circuit for its next race. As the league’s home since its launch in 2024, the circuit remains the benchmark venue for its continued development.
Source: Emirates News Agency